Research question: repertoire history
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    In writing the history of Catholic church music in the United States, one would want to know what parishes were singing at any given time (or if they WERE singing, as opposed to doing only Low Masses). One could form a reasonable overview from church bulletins... but that's the sort of ephemera that is easily discarded. Journals could tell us something, but the relevant journals in this field had clear biases; using the news items in Caecelia would only tell us what they thought was newsworthy or praiseworthy. The standard narrative suggests that RoSewig's masses fell out of use shortly after 1903...yet one Cleveland parish was using them until Vatican II.

    My question is: are there any parishes or diosceses that kept that sort of information? Or are there any collectors of old Catholic church bulletins? Is it even possible to collect the information?
  • marajoymarajoy
    Posts: 783
    I actually tried to research a similar topic for a paper when I was in grad school... I found that some churches do keep most of their bulletins; I also found out that the "historical library" at a large university near me had some collections from a couple churches in the city (none complete.)
    Don't be too hopeful about finding what was being sung by reading through church bulletins (how many churches today actually publish something that would be useful to someone in a similar situation in 40 years?)
    For example, looking through one church's bulletins for the entire period of the 1960s, pretty much the extent of music that was mentioned was of how the church was looking for a couple more Sunday organists!
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    It all depends on how you frame bigger questions.
  • incantuincantu
    Posts: 989
    Try contacting local publishers and see if they have records dating that far back. You can see what specific churches were ordering. If that fails, look for catalogs to see what was available, and what pieces were newly published or available in multiple editions. Before the photocopier and the internet, all choir music had to be printed and purchased from somewhere. Follow that trail and it will bring closer (although not exactly to) the information you're looking for.
  • Daniel Bennett PageDaniel Bennett Page
    Posts: 835
    In the late 19th century and well into the 20th, newpapers often reported the music sung/played in city-center churches for Christmas and Easter.
    The musicians were often listed as well.
    With an increasing amount of this material now available online and in searchable formats, it's possible to trace repertory (albeit only for major days) over several decades.
  • Mark P.
    Posts: 248
    I did a Google News Archive search for "Roger Wagner St. Joseph" and found that mentions in the Los Angeles Times of what the repertoire was in the Downtown Los Angeles Franciscan parish in the 1950s. Vito Carnevali's "Missa Rosa Mystica," Pietro Yon's "Missa Solemnis" and the Pope Marcellus Mass of Palestrina are mentioned.

    The 1951 recording by the Roger Wagner Chorale of the Pope Marcellus Mass has just been added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. Librarian of Congress James H Billington cited the Roger Wagner Chorale’s "rhythmic precision and tonal opulence." See http://www.wksu.org/classical/2011/04/08/library-of-congress-picks-roger-wagner-and-crumb/
  • don roy
    Posts: 306
    y7ou also might want to try programs of big events such as christmas easter or church and organ dedications.that would at least give you a sense of what a parish would do in "pulling all the stops". also, maby have a look at the choral library of some older parishes or interview older life long members of a closing parish.
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